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OP has no dependents, why would she need term life? She probably gets one or two times salary anyway, which would go to pay off any debts, cover her mortgage until her house can be sold, etc. She doesn't need to provide a windfall inheritance to someone who doesn't rely on her income. Disability insurance, yes, that's a must.

LTC is debatable, the idea is good but it doesn't have the greatest track record and it's expensive.

Presumptions about how much income people will need in retirement. Sure, more is always better, but I still think that these companies are using these calculators as a marketing tool to influence people to invest more. Most people manage to retire with far less than the so called minimums you read about in artices or get when you use a calculator.

I’m sorry but your detail of the presumptions is just lacking any detail at all. Most people retire on less because they have no choice and because most people never put the time or effort into properly planning and executing for a fully funded retirement.

Fun facts: 50% of married couples and 71% of unmarried persons receive 50% or more of their income from SS

23% of married couple and 43% of unmarried persons rely on SS for 90% or more of their income.

Average monthly benefit for a retiree is 1369.00

Without SS over 40% of seniors would be below poverty level

So do they survive? Yes they do but I don’t want to be in those statistics do you?

put in the company 401k max to match, or 10 0/0 at the very least, in pre tax contributions. choose the funds wisely.
put in the max into an roth ira, after tax. dont touch this money unless its a dire need scenario.

open an emergency bank account, living expenses for at least a year, you never know. this is for emergencies like job loss, illness, accident, to cover housing, food, and utilities for a year.

get off the debt trail. it is low interest now, but what if you miss a payment? It feels good to not have a debt lingering over your shoulders. credit should be settled by the end of the month, not in 18 months.

everyone has something they spend money on, that is a pure waste. find what it is that is your pure waste, and eliminate it from your lifestyle.

I can't answer for you specifically but I find that the calculators that financial services companies use have a default presumption in favor of trying to convince you that you need to save more - i.e., invest more money with them.

On the other hand, if you are carrying 18 to 24 months worth of debt, it suggests that you may need to do a better job of learning to live within your means - and the fact is that is a skill that isn't directly correlated with how much income you have (wages now, retirement income later on).

Where is that debt from? What is going to keep you from racking it up again if a similar situation arises? This isn't judgement because I don't know how it was incurred but if it was because you needed to replace a furnace, what you are going to do when you need to replace the roof? (and that's assuming it was a necessity vs. a vacation or new furniture or something far more discretionary).

I made a major life change several years ago by moving across the country, and ended up relying on credit cards to handle some unexpected emergencies that tapped out my savings. That got compounded when it made more financial sense to buy a house than rent, as property costs are skyrocketing in my area. It was a good idea since the house is a great investment (I got in while prices were still reasonable with a low interest rate), mortgage is far less than rent, and I have no intention of moving before retirement, but it needed more repairs than expected at first, so more debt. My job is finally paying the kind of money that will enable me to live comfortably, so the debt is the first thing I'm tackling - just put my full end-of-year bonus towards the credit card and will do the same with my tax rebate. The next bonus in a couple months will go towards a cash cushion to prevent me from turning to the credit cards.

The Fidelity projections seem like they're a bit steep to pad their AUM, exactly as you point out, and all my reading on retirement suggests that most people find they see their spending greatly reduced. I know I'm ahead of the general population in terms of retirement savings for my age cohort, but that's not reassuring. But given what is going on with taxes and so-called entitlements, I'm not sure what would make me feel confident. I know I'll have enough to get by on based on my current course, but I would like to have some idea of what to expect. I fully understand the lack of predictability in the stock market, but I'm not sure what's a reasonable retirement savings expectation at my age.

People’s spending patterns in retirement greatly reduce often due to a lack of resources not simply because they want an altered lifestyle. If you are a big saver you shouldn’t model off of replacing gross income but rather current expenses. Expenses should be what you are working from anyhow but most people income/expenses aren’t that far off.

Term life is cheap, and it provides instant liquidity to those upon whom the burdens of winding up her earthly affairs will fall. It would be cruel and uncaring to expect them to do that out of pocket.

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Originally Posted by emm74

Disability insurance, yes, that's a must. LTC is debatable, the idea is good but it doesn't have the greatest track record and it's expensive.

LTC is expensive if you don't start young. The alternative problem is that if needed, long-term care can easily eat through any other assets on the books. It's like any other situation where you face a small chance of a very expensive loss. To insure, or not to insure. That is the question.

[PS. Spending patterns tend to change significantly in retirement. Planning to cover current spending would very likely result in misallocations.]

Term life is cheap, and it provides instant liquidity to those upon whom the burdens of winding up her earthly affairs will fall. It would be cruel and uncaring to expect them to do that out of pocket.

If you have no assets, no spouse and no dependents you donít need term. Your friends or family donít have to pay or deal with your earthly affairs

Quote:

[PS. Spending patterns tend to change significantly in retirement. Planning to cover current spending would very likely result in misallocations.]

If you are in good shape taxwise now I would go with the Roth IRA which is more profitable in the future. I would also take more chances with stocks and avoid the drain of mutual funds. Can you invest in your employer stock? Might be worth investigating the risk.

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